Introducing myself

[Dasarge1953]

Hi; my name is Frank. I'm 60, love beer in the evenings in my back yard. I'm a retired soldier and a veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm. My bucket list is extensive and I've just about ran out of things to do. Love fishing, hunting and would love to learn how to brew my own beer.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Welcome to the best brewing forum around. After so many years of personal sacrifice I hope you find true love in home brewing and savour the fruits of your labour! If not, there are a lot of smart folk here who can help make sure you do.

 

[Psycotte]

First up... from one former serviceman to another... Thank you for your service to our country!

Welcome aboard! You'll find the folks here are willing to help with anything. They are fabulous. Brewing your own beer is very rewarding and not all that difficult. Hardest part is having the patience to wait for it to ferment and condition.

 

[passedpawn]

Howdy Frank. Welcome to the forum.

 

[JohnSand]

Welcome Sarge!

 

[Beer-lord]

Welcome Frank. And, thanks for your service and sacrifice. I raise a glass to honor you!

 

[solbes]

Sarge, Thanks for your serice, really!

Brewing beer isn't too hard at all. I recommend picking up Palmer's How to Brew book as a great how to resource. Read the first 4 or 5 chapters and you already know 75%, plenty enough to brew a few batches.

 

[Kahler]

Thank you for your service frank, and welcome.
Where are you located?

 

[Dasarge1953]

Thanks to everyone. Visited my local wine/beer supply here in mobile this morning. He was very helpful! I look forward to learning from you all and making beer.

 

[celticdevildog]

Welcome to the forums and thanks for your service!

I'm a new brewer myself (getting ready to start my 3rd batch). I HIGHLY recommend the How to Brew book by John Palmer. If you click on the link it takes you to an online version of the book and it is well worth the read. Section 1 will get you going with some level of confidence!

Also, everyone here is very willing to help if you have any questions or concerns. You couldn't ask for a better collection of people.

 

[cpl-america]

welcome to "retirement, the right way" sarge.

i hope you do love it, and you'll probably wonder why you didn't know how to do this while on all those overseas "assignments" i mean, you can only drink so much soju. (no really, after about two bottles they always arrest you, and you can never remember why)

anyways, i hope you love it, it's simple stupid.

airborne.

 

[Dasarge1953]

Thank you! Been retired for 20 years. Lol! I have that book but its a challenge for the novice regarding technical data but ill be up ta snuff soon!

 

[Dasarge1953]

Thank you for your service frank, and welcome.
Where are you located?

Lil town west of mobile. Semmes. Pronounced Sims

 

[Psycotte]

What are you thinking about brewing first?

 

[Dasarge1953]

I'm leaning towards a light ale for starters. I have a collection of beer steins and look forward to drinking a mug full of cold beer I made!

 

[Melana]

Welcome and thank you for your service!

 

[Dasarge1953]

Thank you Melana. Just racked my first attempt at beer brewing two days ago. Glass carboy percolating like a coffee pit! The co2 has a pleasant hop scent! Hope that's good! Plan to rack it in a day or two so I can clean it up. Lots of trubb? On the walls. Then, let it cook for a couple of weeks more!

 

[Dasarge1953]

Ok, gonna spill the beans on myself. Reading the importance of cold brake, I immersed by stainless pot in ice water and using a paint mixer and drill, cooled it down from boiling temp to 70degrees in 7 minutes without airation.

 

[Melana]

I'd let it sit for a few days longer before racking...

 

[Dasarge1953]

You bet. I'm simply transferring it into another carboy to rid it of the trubb.

 

[solbes]

But leaving the fermenting beer on the trub and primary yeast is important. I would give it 2-3 weeks on the yeast for a moderate gravity beer. Towards the 3 week if you can stand waiting. Then 3 weeks to carb in bottles. Dang is waiting for that first brew hard!

To make it easier in the future, have another brew ready to go once the 3 weeks are up. Once you get a pipeline of beer, the waiting becomes very easy.

 

[unionrdr]

Hey sarge! A couple years after I retired,I decided to search youtube videos for home made beer. There are scads of videos visually describing the process. And with different styles of beer as well. Craigtube is the most well known,he's been at it for some 25 years. Then many of us on here have brewing related videos as well. From extract to all grain to bottling & kegging.
It's a great hobby for me as a retired auto worker. So maybe something visual would make some sense in my opinion. It did for me,intertwined with what I learned on here. So stick around,it gets good to you on here after a time...

 

[Melana]

But leaving the fermenting beer on the trub and primary yeast is important.

Sarge hon, this is what i actually meant. I've been busy at work today.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to the group, from CO.

Thank you for your service, I have family that was in Desert Storm.

Best hobby / addiction in the world.